Charles Haviland Mekeel
Charles Haviland Mekeel
1861-1921
Charles H. Mekeel was one of America’s greatest stamp dealers and editors. He became a dealer in 1877 and continued for the rest of his life. His editing began in 1881 with The Stamp Collectors’ Bureau (later called The Collectors’ Bureau).
In 1885 Mekeel published Philatelic Journal of America, which became one of the country’s leading philatelic journals. It continued for 25 volumes, through 1917, except for volumes 15 to 19 (1901-1905) when it was called Mekeel’s Stamp Collector. At the same time, Mekeel published Mekeel’s Drummer (1900-1901), Mekeel’s News and Trade Journal (1905-1912) and other shorter journals. In 1896, he issued philately’s first “daily,” The Daily Stamp News, publishing 285 issues between January and December 1896.
His most famous publication was his Mekeel’s Weekly Stamp News, which he began in January 1891 and continued to edit through 1897 (Volume 9). It was the weekly journal of record. He then sold it to his brother Isaac who added Charles Severn and Willard Wylie to the editorship, keeping it as the country’s leading weekly into the 1940s.
Mekeel collected and wrote on the stamps of Mexico. He wrote The Mexican Postal Stamp Catalog (1890) and The Postage Stamps of Mexico (1911). For three years (1892-1895) he published a St. Louis-based Spanish language journal, La Revista Filatelica.
Mekeel figured prominently in a famous find of St. Louis Postmaster Provisionals — the St. Louis Bears — that took place in Louisville, Kentucky in 1895. The find, also called the Tyler and Rutherford find, settled any lingering doubts about the plating of the stamps and authenticity of the 20-cent value. It also verified the findings of his colleague, John K. Tiffany, published in 1894. Mekeel wrote The History of the Postage Stamps of the St. Louis Postmaster, 1845-1847 in 1895. )
[Our thanks to the American Philatelic Society for much of this information, and to Herbert Trenchard, author of this biography.]